BackstoryThe bottom part of my phone’s screen starting getting awfully temperamental on Saturday or so. It wasn’t working right at all and it just stopped working all of the sudden. No idea what caused it. I tried some troubleshooting steps myself and had no luck. I figured I had to call Verizon.

Phone Call #1
I called Verizon on Sunday (April 1st), went through a few quick menus and was transferred to a friendly guy named Jason. I explained my problem to Jason and he did what he needed to and got the account verified. I told him the troubleshooting steps I had done and he made it very clear that I wouldn’t have to do them again. It’s a nice change to have a company think you are actually competent. It also made me think a bit higher of Verizon.

He led me through an additional troubleshooting step or two (neither were too complicated or time consuming) and we came to the conclusion that there was definitely something the matter with the phone that we couldn’t fix. He told me that Verizon would be overnighting me a new phone (phone and shipping was free) and that I could send my old phone back once I got all setup with the new one. At this point, I was quite happy. I even offered to (and did) send a note to Jason’s supervisor about how well he did.

Besides the core elements of the troubleshooting, the product exchange, etc., which he did very well at, Jason excelled in a few other ways:

He was good at small talk. I liked the fact that Jason obviously wasn’t reading from a script. I asked if they had gotten many April Fool’s calls and he explained that they sometimes have them at the office, but they hadn’t gotten any. I mentioned that I doubt many people make a joke of their PDA phones not working. From that, he then told me about a customer who had lost something like 10,000 contacts the other day, had everything that could go wrong happen, and how it took two hours on the phone with him to get some of them back.

He was good at small talk #2. After hearing the story about the other customer, I mentioned that I was just a customer service consultant and didn’t even know that many people. He asked some questions about that and about my blog and so on. It’s rare (unfortunately) to see a customer service representative that actually can get off script smoothly and maintain a pleasant conversation.

He was friendly. Throughout the entire experience, Jason wasn’t rude, short, etc. From previous experiences with Verizon, that is what I expected and was pleasant surprised to see otherwise.

I got an extension! I thought extension numbers were a telecom company myth, but Jason actually give me an extension that I could reach him at if I had any other questions.

All in all, I’d rate the experience as a great one. It was far above acceptable and I was pleasant surprised. Jason wasn’t quite as happy and enthusiastic as the T-Mobile people, but that was fine – he was friendly, able to resolve my issues, and get the job done in a pleasant manner.

Phone Call #2I got the box from FedEx today. They tried to deliver it on Tuesday, but I wasn’t home to sign for the package. I opened the box and was happy to see they had sent the right phone and all the information I needed. I was confused about one of the forms I had to fill out and called Verizon again.

I was connected to a friendly lady within a few seconds. She offered to help and seemed to be generally happy. It took a bit of explanation (which I expected), but she was able to get the answer. The answer wasn’t too complicated, but I wanted to be sure. She confirmed and I was happy.

What set this call apart from just being acceptable was the representative was actually pro-active. She asked if I wanted to activate my new phone (instead of me having to call back later). I declined since I wanted to set the new one up first, but I was impressed by her offer. I also asked if I could type out the form instead of writing it on this stupid plastic insert and got an “of course” which is always nice to hear.

Verizon has been impressing me the last few days. I wonder what they’ve been doing, but whatever it is, it’s working. Now we just need to see some other companies that are also working to improve customer service do the same thing and the consumer/business world could be a better place.

9 Responses to “Verizon Customer Service Does Well!”

[…] Congratulations to Verizon for developing and implementing a customer service strategy that includes well-trained agents and the effective use of proactive, automated self service. The company was able to turn an extremely frustrated consumer (due to no fault of their own) into a very satisfied and loyal one. […]

[…] A little over a week ago, I talked about my great experiences with Verizon. Well, I take it back. I’ve spent the last hour and a half on the phone with Verizon and it’s been the worst customer service experience I’ve been a part of in months. More about it this Monday. Technorati tags: Verizon, Customer Service « Andrew Field of PrintingForLess.com – Part 4 […]

f0n3 said:

Whatta liar Verizon sux at customer service. I believe they need to hire competent Americans and not these foreigners with their impossible to undertsand accents. Not like mine, accent, to them is any better lol. And Verizon has hidden fees. I wish Verizon would take their customer service department serious because I find it insulting that to connect my service is no problem but to maintain it is.

scott said:

mel freedman said:

comment/complaint: I am currently DSL 781 235 7064. Your
system thinks I am Fios because I have an fios order to be executed next april when my town is willing to dig the street. Your automated phone system treats me as a current fios customer, so I can’t navigate DSL easily, if at all. I need to have the quality of my DSL tested, as I have trouble with my FAX operation, which the manufacturer says, after testing, that the line levels are inadequate. Can you get me to the right department for a line check? Would make me a better fan of Verizon!!!

anthony said:

mady said:

verizon is definetly one of the worse business ive had to deal with they install their bundle deal without telling you theres a 3 month installation fee. when they installed the lines they broke skirting around my home and under my home they left a mess of wires that my husband had to clean up. Questioning a bill is worthless because you have to be transfered at least four times to the department who is dealing with that. Last but not least i ordered what they call a ditigal adapter so i can have cable in another room you get charged 3.99 extra a month for that and when you activate the box it doesnt work so you call their automated system to find a real person and they keep you on the line for 1 and half hours before transferring you two more times to have someone tell you theyll send you a new box and they wont send anyone out to help you pathetic i had to do the work of their employees

Peter Bromberg said:

I cannot state strongly enough what awful, terrible, no good customer service I have gotten (or not gotten, more precisely) from verizon over the past few weeks. They have compounded a simply 5.97 billing error on their part (charging it to a closed account, never sending me the bill, and then sending to collections–all they while I’m paying them $140/month for two phones and a data plan–sigh), by being completely unable to rectify the issue or even offer a simple apology.

Verizon has so fragmented their customer service departments that no one has the authority to do anything outside of their little dept. Only one out of 5 verizon employees i’ve spoken with have demonstrated the basics of customer service: listen, empathize and offer to help. I have been interrupted, cut off, hung up on, and others have used a nasty, condescending tone of voice with me I wouldn’t use with another human being–certainly not one that was paying to use my service. Unreturned emails and phone calls are the icing on this rancid cake.